Phenylalkylcarbamate derivatives, dioxane-2-alkylcarbamate derivatives and piperidinyl- and piperazinyl-alkylcarbamate derivatives, are described respectively in the documents WO 2004/067498 A, WO 2004/020430 A and WO 2004/099176, as being useful inhibitors of the enzyme fatty acid amido hydrolase. (FAAH). These references and their teachings are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The fatty acid amido hydrolase enzyme (FAAH) (Chemistry and Physics of Lipids, (2000), 108, 107-121) catalyses the hydrolysis of endogenous derivatives of amides and of esters of various fatty acids such as N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide), N-palmitoylethanolamine, N-oleoyl-ethanolamine, oleamide or 2-arachidonoylglycerol. These derivatives exert various pharmacological activities by interacting, inter alia, with cannabinoid and vanilloid receptors.
The compounds of the present invention block this degradation pathway and increase the tissue level of these endogenous substances. They can be used in this respect in the prevention and treatment of pathologies in which endogenous cannabinoids and/or any other substrates metabolized by the FAAH enzyme are involved.